Libretto by Aviram Freiberg to a story by S. Agnon

Helleni: What do you want here, Jew?

Yossef: Perhaps you can use something of these lovely things I have?

Helleni: I have no use for you or your wares.

Yossef:   But look and see, perhaps even so? Here are ribbons and rings and kerchiefs and sheets and soap and fine perfumes that the noblewomen use.

Helleni: There’s nothing here. Get out!

Yossef: Just look, my lady, and don’t say there’s nothing here. Perhaps you might want this, or perhaps this lovely piece of goods pleases you. Please, my lady, look and see.

Helleni: Are you here again? What do you want, Jew?

Yossef: Since I left you, I’ve been wandering in the darkness and I can’t find any town.

Helleni: And so, what do you want from me?

Yossef: Please, my lady, give me permission to sit here until the moon comes out. Then I’ll be able to see where I’m going and I’ll be off.

Helleni: It seems to me that the roof needs mending. Can you do anything about it?

Yossef: I’ll be glad to jump right up and take care of it. I’m sure that from now on the rain won’t get into your house.

Helleni: You are a real craftsman. Tell me what your fee is and I’ll pay you.

Yossef: God forbid that I should take a single penny from my lady. It is not my practice to accept payment for anything which is not part of my trade, certainly not from my lady, who has shown me the kindness of allowing me to spend the night in her house.

Helleni: Sit down and I’ll bring you some breakfast.

 

II

 

Yossef: Perhaps there is something else here that needs to be fixed? I’m ready to do whatever my lady wishes.

Helleni: Look and see.

Yossef: My lady lives all alone. Has she no husband or friend and companion? Surely there must be here many distinguished gentlemen to seek the company of such a fine lady.

Helleni: I had a husband…

Yossef: And he died.

Helleni: No, he was killed.

Yossef: How was he killed?

Helleni: The police don’t know, and now you want to know! What difference does it make to you how he was killed, whether an evil beast ate him or whether he was slaughtered with a knife? Don’t you yourself sell knives with which it is possible to slaughter a man?  

Yossef: May the Lord grant that they find the murderers of your husband to exact vengeance from them.

Helleni: They won’t find them. Not every murderer is meant to be caught.

Yossef: I am sorry, my lady, that I have reminded you of your sorrow. If I only knew how I could cheer you up, I’d give half my life to do it.

 

III

 

Yossef: How is it, Helleni, that I’ve been living with you several months and I’ve never seen you eat or drink? You haven’t put a feeding trough in your belly, have you?

Helleni: What difference does it make to you whether I eat or drink? It’s enough that you don’t want for anything with me and you have plenty to eat always.

Yossef: It’s true, that I eat and drink and I lead a more comfortable life now than ever before, but even so I would like to know how you sustain yourself and how you nourish yourself. You don’t eat at the same table with me, and I’ve never seen you eat away from the table either. Is it possible to exist without eating and drinking?

Helleni: You want to know what I eat and what I drink? I drink men’s blood and I eat human flesh. I never imagined, that a Jew’s flesh would be so sweet. Kiss me, my raven. Kiss me, my eagle. Your kisses are sweeter to me than all the kisses in the world. Yossef, in the beginning, when you showed yourself here I wanted to set the bitch on you, and now I myself am biting you like a mad bitch, so much that I’m afraid you won’t get out of my hands alive. O, my own sweet corpse!

 

IV

 

Helleni: He who delves too deeply digs his own grave. Be happy, my sweet corpse, with everything that is given to you, and don’t ask questions that have no answer.

Yossef: Many times now I’ve asked you about your husband and you’ve never said a thing to me.

Helleni: About which one did you ask?

Yossef: You mean you had two husbands?

Helleni: What difference does it make to you if there were two or three?

Yossef: So then I’m your fourth husband?

Helleni: My fourth husband?

Yossef: Well, from what you say, that is what it comes to. Doesn’t it, Helleni?

Helleni: Wait a minute and I’ll count them all…

Yossef: And where are they?

Helleni: Now, didn’t I tell you that he who delves too deeply digs his own grave?

Yossef: Tell me anyway.

Helleni: Some of them perhaps are here.

Yossef: What do you mean, ‘here’?

Helleni: And if I told you, do you think you would understand? Mother of God! Look, see what a face this corpse has. Darling, do you believe in God?

Yossef: And is it possible not to believe in God?

Helleni: You’re a Jew, aren’t you?

Yossef: Yes, I’m a Jew!

Helleni: Well, the Jews don’t believe in God, for if they believed in Him they wouldn’t have murdered Him. But if you do believe in God, pray to Him that you won’t end up the way they did.

Yossef: The way who did?

Helleni: The way those you asked about ended up.

Yossef: You mean your husbands?

Helleni: Yes, my husbands.

Yossef: And how did they end up?

Helleni: If you don’t understand, it doesn’t pay to talk to you. Why did you turn so pale?

Yossef: Did I turn pale?

Helleni: And the hair on your head, is standing up like pig bristles.

Yossef: My hair is standing up?

Helleni: And the strands of your beard, are clotted together in patches like goose feathers. Pfui, how ugly the face of a coward is! Take good care of your Adam’s apple. Mother of God! it’s trembling as though it saw the knife. Don’t worry, my little sweetheart, I haven’t bitten you yet. You look as if I had already swallowed you. Eat! Eat! I see you need to have your bread chewed for you. Wait, and I’ll go with you.

 

V

 

Helleni: What are you doing, raising the house with your noise and not letting me sleep!

Yossef: I disturbed your sleep.

Helleni: I don’t know what you are talking about.

Yossef: Why, you shouted at me that I wasn’t letting you sleep.

Helleni: I shouted?

Yossef: Then you must have been talking in your sleep.

Helleni: What were I saying?

 

VI

 

Yossef: I haven’t been sleeping well and I keep turning and tossing in bed, so I’m afraid that I’ll disturb your sleep. That’s why I’ve moved my bed into another room.

Helleni: Do whatever you think is best for you.

Yossef: That’s what I’ve done.

Helleni: Then good.

 

VII

 

Helleni: Why are you twisting your mouth?

Yossef: I didn’t twist my mouth.

Helleni: Maybe you’re bothered by the way my mouth smells?

Yossef: Take a piece of bread and eat.

Helleni: Don’t worry about me, I won’t go hungry.

 

______________________________

 

Yossef: Father in Heaven, how far away I have gone! If I don’t return at once, I am lost.

Helleni, Do you want to say something?

Helleni: Pfui, how cold you are! Your blood isn’t blood. It’s ice water.